When you read this, I’ll be on the Ortelius again, heading through the Drake Passage towards Antarctica. But where we usually stop at the Antarctic Peninsula, now we only use that as a starting point… The picture above was taken on the eastern side of the Peninsula in the Weddell Sea, this time we will sail down the western side, through the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas towards the Ross Sea. This is was recently recognised as a Marine Protected Area and is home to special wildlife like Emperor Penguins, Ross Seals and Ross Sea Killer Whales (one of the several ecotypes of Orca and most likely a distinct species). Apart from that we’ll try to land in the McMurdo Dry Valleys and set foot in the hut Scott used during his ill-fated quest for the South Pole.

Super excited to be part of this very special trip with Oceanwide Expeditions! Click here to see a video report of one of the previous trips to this area. This also means I’ll be offline for the next 30 days. In the meantime, I’ll share some pictures and stories from the first part of my season.